The ramblings of a pilgrim through time, space, and life.

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A week or two before finals and all through the school…

I just have to take a break from my reading. Well, I have struggled even starting. Since I haven’t written for a long time, I thought I would send out an update!

Yesterday, I skipped all my classes! I stayed home and decided to review, study, read, and take a nap for lunch. It was one of the best days ever. I did spend about 4 hours studying contracts, about 1 hour on criminal law, and about 1 hour on property. I am feeling better about a few things. I am amazed at how much I did learn and disappointed how many things I have forgotten. (Forgot or forgotten? Seraphs or Seraphim? Broke or Broken? I don’t know the grammatical law governing this situation!) I also worked in the yard a little. Cleaned up some branches, watered the front and side, and even cleaned out the heat pump. However, the highlight of the day was the visit by the plumber and HVAC dude (is he a HVACer? His name was Paul, I knew he was cool!) Ultimately, I skipped school to be there for them to install our new/old bathtub and get a quote on fixing our ventilation.

The story of the HVAC turned out to be true of the rest of the home. Whoever fixed up this house, the ultimate DIYers, didn’t do think in the proper way. Like the bathroom, the yard, and even the sheetrock, we now have a few new items to add to the list. Walking on top of the house, Paul mentioned that the roof moves an awful lot while walking on it wondering if there was only a single layer of plywood. If so, we would have insulation problems. Upon inspection inside, he confirmed we only have one layer meaning heat and cold easily travel through. He said it wasn’t a huge concern, but just not the best way to do things. But he openly laughed when first viewing the duct work of the home. He first made a question like, “Is that room is the hottest when heating and the coldest when cooling?” I assumed him it was. He then asked about other rooms and was correct on all accounts. He then explained to me the theories behind air movement which anyone who had taken physics would already know. It was interesting to hear the application to duct work. So let me do a quick explanation, but with plumbing. If when plumbing a house we brought the water main in and then put a plug on the line. Then we put in a line and took it to the kitchen sink. Then one for the refrigerator feed. Then one for the bathroom sink. Then one for the toilet. Then one for the bathtub and on through the house. But we took every pipe from the same location. It is a terrible waste of pipe to run every pipe clear back to the starting point. Plus, we would have an issue with water pressure and possible line freezing. Additionally, with all those pipes running to every individual thing we have that many more potential leak problems. Well, that is what was done with the duct work for our ventilation system. Every single hole in our ceiling for heating and air condition has its own hose that runs all the way to the fan/blower. By the time we get to the plenum (a new vocabulary word for me, the part where the fan blows in to) we have 11 separate ducts going into the plenum! Plumbing though, we have a pretty good idea when there is a leak. Ductwork, people are less inclined to care if there is a lead. Well, the kind showing of my HVACer showed the signs of leaks in every single duct both at the plenum and the exit location! We are doing more heating and air conditioning of our attic than we are the actual house! Oh wait, it gets better! Every single room has the same size of ductwork! So the big rooms are getting the same amount of air as the little rooms. Add some physics to that, the farther rooms, regardless of size, are getting less than the closer rooms. Hence, our bedroom and the main bath are always the best heated and cooled, and the back room is the worst (That hose actually leaves the attic, goes under the home, and then reemerges in the floor of the back room. Anyhow, Paul suggested a complete replacement of the duct system and plenum for $1700! Then due to the lack of plywood and tar paper on the roof, he suggests no less than a foot of insulation (which is now about 1 inch).

So, another job to be done before we insulate the attic. Electrical work is next. Oh, Paul the HVACer, also told me there is not enough power running to the Heat Pump and that is why when it kicks on every light in the house goes dim for a second or two. Yea for DIYers who don’t do their homework first!

Anyhow, on to the real topic of issue. Our bathtub is now in place and plumbed. Amanda can now shave her legs in complete luxury! Well, kinda. While the faucet, spout, and shower head are all plumbed, they are still just pipes sticking out of the wall. While she could technically get water at the tub, the pipes are just screwed in and may leak inside the wall. We are waiting for the tile to be installed before we will put on the goodies. So technically, all of Amanda’s luxury will be getting a bucket from the sink to shave her legs. But at least she can drain her filty, hairy, leg water down the new drain and if she uses enough water, the new overflow! This is a deep tub though, so she would have to do a lot of leg shavin’ to get to that point! Our friend, Andrew Curtis, told his wife he was jealous of our new bathtub. His wife insisted that was one of the strangest things she had heard from him (at least that week). Next is tiling, then finish the cosmetic plumbing, then the shower-rod, then the new door & frame, and the new baseboards, and our little bathroom will be completely finished! How is that for excitement? Hopefully we can have the tile done by June.

School continues to go well. I don’t want to mention much of it since I have enough of it in my life already. Next semester I have signed up for Income Tax Law as an elective. I have all the required classes like Constitutional Law, Evidence, Criminal Procedure, Legal Ethics. So many people are migrating towards Corporations. I need a four credit class to get my licensed legal intern so Income Tax sounded interesting. Not really, but I need it for family law and property law. Might as well wipe it out now. Plus, Corporations I will have to take, so might as well delay the inevitable!

This semester has been going well. I have slacked off a little bit. But I have learned much. I just slacked off on the outline side of the business. I joined with somebody else to do it and he has been pulling more of the weight than he probably should. In fact, most of the weight. It will bite me in the end, I am sure. He did better than me last semester and he will surely do much better this semester. Just if I can ride on his coat-tails to a C+ or B- I will be happy. I just got to be average!!! I actually think I did well enough in Legal Writing to pull a B+ or A- so here is for hoping! That will help my GPA as long as I don’t totally flub a class. Property is such a comprehensive class. Some of the finals will be over like 500 pages of material. Property is well over 1000 pages so I have a formidable task before me.

Well, I need to get back to reading about Summary Judgment and Motions for Judgment as a Matter of Law.

Oh, it looks like I have two potential internships for the summer. I will probably do 5 weeks in Burley, Idaho for one internship and another 5 weeks in Salt Lake City, Utah for the other 5 weeks. I don’t want to share details until they are firm. Time to sign off, sneeze (allergies now going on 4 months!), and get back to sleep-reading.